Korean Baby Names by Saju: How Korean American Families Choose

Your child has an American name for school. But a lot of Korean American parents also want a real Korean name — one chosen the traditional way, by saju, so it carries the right meaning and balance. In Korean, that practice is called jakmyeong.

What jakmyeong actually is

Jakmyeong (작명) is the Korean art of naming a child based on their saju — the year, month, day, and hour of birth. A naming reader looks at the balance of the child's chart, then proposes names whose hanja (Chinese characters), sounds, and meanings support what the chart needs. It is not just picking a pretty word; each candidate comes with its characters and reasoning.

For families abroad, this is often about more than tradition. A Korean name chosen properly is something grandparents recognize and respect, and something the child can carry with pride — a thread back to a heritage that an American name alone doesn't hold.

How to get a Korean name from the U.S.

The process is remote and simple. You add a naming house on KakaoTalk, send the baby's exact birth date and time and the family surname, and the reader proposes name candidates — each with its hanja and meaning, matched to the child's saju. You discuss and choose over a free KakaoTalk voice call.

For naming, these are the three houses Koreans back home turn to first, with how to reach each:

This is an independent guide. Listings are removed upon request.